Minister backs aged-care automation likened to robodebt

The aged care minister is defending a tool used to determine funding for older Australians living at home despite hundreds of complaints.

The Integrated Assessment Tool was introduced in November to help distribute funding more equitably, after more than $4 billion was erroneously allocated under the old system.

More than 1,000 Australians have asked for their claims to be reviewed since the tool was launched, a senate committee was told on Thursday.

Assessors enter information about a person into the tool and then use an algorithm to determine how much money that person is eligible to receive.

The result cannot be changed.

Health ministry officials told the committee there was limited consultation with providers regarding the tool.

Aged care advocate Peter Willcocks likened the auto to direct debit because assessors cannot choose to give customers a higher level of care than the algorithm says they need.

Robodebt was an illegal government program that used an automated system and led to thousands of welfare recipients being tracked down, in many cases, for debts they did not owe. It was linked to a number of suicides.

Aged Care Minister Sam Rae disagrees that people do not have the ability to intervene in the consequences of this tool.

“There’s a mathematical component, it’s the nature of the process. The algorithm is just a process. There’s a process where the aged care rules are applied. It’s an automatic process,” he told ABC Radio.

“The purpose part is the enforcement of the rules. That’s the standardized part.”

Thanks to the tool, the average wait time for an assessment has fallen to under a month, Mr Rae said.

Previously, some older Australians had to wait years to get help and even died before they were given funding.

Independent senator David Pocock told the committee that a visually impaired man had to move in with his daughter while she took time off from work and waited for funds.

Officials said the case was “horrific” but questioned whether the assessment was done properly.